1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for therapeutically treating injuries using ultrasound. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus which utilizes a portable ergonomically constructed signal generator and an ergonomically constructed transducer for treating bone injuries or a variety of musculoskeletal injuries and/or problems.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of ultrasound to therapeutically treat and evaluate bone injuries is known. Impinging ultrasonic pulses having appropriate parameters, e.g., frequency, pulse repetition, and amplitude, for suitable periods of time and at a proper external location adjacent to a bone injury has been determined to accelerate the natural healing of, for example, bone breaks and fractures. For patients with reduced healing capacity, such as elderly persons with osteoporosis, ultrasonic therapy may promote healing of bone injuries that would otherwise require prosthetic replacement or leave the patient permanently disabled.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,360 to Duarte describes a basic non-invasive therapeutic technique and apparatus for applying ultrasonic pulses from an operative surface placed on the skin at a location adjacent a bone injury. The applicator described in the '360 patent has a plastic tube which serves as a grip for the operator, an RF plug attached to the plastic tube for connection to an RF source, and internal cabling connected to an ultrasonic transducer. To apply the ultrasound pulses during treatment an operator must manually hold the applicator in place until the treatment is complete. As a result, the patient is, in effect, immobilized during treatment. The longer the treatment period, the more the patient is inconvenienced. The '360 patent also describes a range of RF signals for creating the ultrasound, ultrasound power density levels, a range of duration for each ultrasonic pulse, and a range of ultrasonic pulse frequencies.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,965 to Talish et al. relates to an ultrasonic body treatment system having a body-applicator unit connected to a remote control unit by sheathed fiber optic lines. The signals controlling the duration of ultrasonic pulses and the pulse repetition frequency are generated apart from the body-applicator unit. Talish et al. also describes a mounting fixture for attaching the body-applicator unit to a patient so that the operative surface is adjacent the skin location.
While the systems described in these patents relate to therapeutic methods and apparatus for ultrasonically treating injured bone, they do not disclose ergonomically configured signal generators and transducers which permit patient mobility during treatment. Moreover, such systems do not describe techniques for positioning the transducer at the approximate external skin location of the injury to optimize the ultrasonic therapy received.
Therefore, a need exists for apparatus which optimize healing while maintaining patient mobility. Also a need exists for an apparatus for determining an external location on the patient's body corresponding to the location of an internal bone injury.